Peter Andersson, our Managing Director and Crew Portfolio manager, well known by many of our customers after his 19 years with the company, has decided to move on to become the CEO of a Stockholm-based IT company as of January. Tomas Klemets, Head of Scheduling Safety and reporting to Peter, decided to ask him some tough questions.
So, Peter - any connection between the hardships in aviation right now, experienced during the pandemic, and you ’bailing out’?
- Ha-ha, I’m definitely not 'bailing out', as I’m sure you know. I've been with Jeppesen for a very long time, through thick and thin. I actually live in Stockholm and this just happens to be an opportunity for me that came up a while ago, and was too good to turn down. I am definitely going to something challenging and new, rather than away from something.
Staying with the pandemic for a moment, what is your take on the current state and future of the aviation industry?
- This is indeed an extremely challenging time. I've been through, just like yourself and most of our customers, the 9/11-disaster, ash-clouds and financial downturns, but the impact of this pandemic goes far beyond all of those. It is truly heart breaking to see the hardships for the industry right now but I'm confident this will turn around into true and lasting recovery. I think there is reassurance in the fact that personal meetings will continue to be essential for humanity to lower barriers, provide perspective, build bridges, enable trade, and enrich our experiences. I hope and believe that many companies and individuals will come out stronger from this in many ways.
And how do you see the need for optimisation of crew and network resources in the future?
- It will always be there. Also now during the pandemic, despite limited flying going on, we do see our solution differentiators being crucial to our customers. The flexibility and 'what-if' capabilities, combined with speed, is still very valuable and a necessity for most. The planning problems will continue to be extremely challenging, and just as a chess computer can provide good resistance to most of us, computers will continue to enhance and extend our minds also after the pandemic - with experienced humans of course pointing out the direction and setting the priorities. Many planning problems will be smaller during the coming couple of years, but perhaps even more complex than before due to new constraints and a constantly changing business environment.
Thank you for those reflections. And looking back on your nineteen years in the company, what are your strongest and most fond memories?
- The people of course; our amazing customers and employees. The amount of passion, enthusiasm and can-do attitude oozing from both of these groups, often when faced with solving the most impossible problems, is truly inspiring. That 'lean forward' attitude to problem solving is something I will always cherish and take with me. I also have wonderful memories from my time working abroad in Montreal and Singapore, and of course from travelling world-wide meeting customers at some amazing locations. The Jeppesen Crew 'community', manifested perhaps most clearly twice annually at our Development Partners meetings and Connect conferences, comes to mind. It has been fantastic to see the amount of collaboration and information sharing that takes place between operators, even cross alliances, all acting as one big ’family’. Conferences that I hope and believe we... sorry, you, will soon again be able to travel in to and experience in real life, not just via computer screens.
Thank you Peter. You will stay active with us up until 1st of January, but there may not be any more interviews in this form. Any final thoughts to share with the Jeppesen staff and our customers?
- Just an enormous thank you from my side for all the great times shared and some amazing collaboration over the years. It's been truly inspiring and very rewarding to work with you all. I will continue, from a far, to follow the development of Boeing, Jeppesen and our customers with great interest and hope to remain in contact with many of you on a personal level. Best wishes, stay strong, and stay safe.
Thanks again Peter, and best wishes in your new endeavours! Peter Andersson will move into his new position, outside Jeppesen/Boeing, on 1 Jan 2021. His Crew Portfolio role will be filled by Johan Kollind, a strong long-time leader at Jeppesen very well known within the Jeppesen customer base and the wider crew management domain.
Comments